Whittaker proposed a classification system in which organisms are categorized into 5 kingdoms; monera, protista, mycota, metaphyta and metazoa. The monera kingdom consists of primitive organisms which are very small in size and are single celled. These organisms generally consist of prokaryotes or eukaryotes, meaning species such as bacteria, archae bacteria, mycoplasma and cyanobacteria are included. The protista kingdom consists of aquatic, single celled eukaryotes. These eukaryotes are generally photosynthetic, including diatoms, golden algae, and protozoans. The Mycota kingdom (kingdom fungi) consists of mycelium, with hyphae bodies (long, thread-like structures). These organisms generally include saprophytes/parasites and symbionts. The metaphyta kingdom (kingdom plantae) contains eukaryotic, mutli-cellular plants. This kingdom includes a wide variety of plants such as shrubs, trees and herbs. All plants make their own food through the process of photosynthesis, as they contain chlorophyll pigment. The last kingdom is the metazoa kingdom (kingdom animalia), and consists of heterotrophic, eukaryotic, multi-cellular …show more content…
The process involves isolating a DNA fragment from each organism and producing duplicates of each gene, which are then coloured with fluorescent dyes in order to distinguish the nucleotide bases in the DNA. A DNA sequencer is then used in order to graph and print out the entire sequence of nucleotide base sequences from both organisms, which is then compared. The results prove that the more closely related species, the less differences in nucleotide base sequences.
Mitochondrial DNA
It is common for DNA to be located in the mitochondria of a cell. Mitochondrial DNA is a single, double-stranded loop which only codes 13 proteins, and is generally inherited differently from nuclear DNA as mitochondrial DNA is only inherited from the mother. Mitochondrial DNA also mutates at a high rate, which allows for it’s use as a ‘molecular clock’ to date evolutionary events. By studying and comparing the amount of differentiation in the mitochondrial DNA, and also using the mutation rates, this allows for scientists to predict the length of time different primates have been inhabiting an area and